The officer kept a calm, ____ approach during the interview.

• A. Professional
• B. Professionally
• C. Professionalism
• D. Professionals

Answer: (A)

The thing being tested is choosing the right word form to describe a noun. The word after the comma should describe the noun “approach.” Adjectives describe nouns, while adverbs modify verbs or adjectives, and nouns cannot describe another noun with an adverb. “Professional” is the correct choice because it is an adjective that directly describes the noun “approach”—giving two coordinate adjectives, “calm” and “professional,” that characterize the manner of the approach. Using “professionally” would be an adverb and wouldn’t describe the noun itself, and “professionalism” or “professionals” are nouns, which wouldn’t neatly modify “approach.”